by SEAN KIMMONS
A former Hays County Juvenile Detention Center guard has been sentenced to eight years in prison for the sexual abuse of an underage female inmate in 2009, court records show.
Mario Luera, 27, pled guilty to felony charges of sexual assault of a child and improper sexual activity with a person in custody, before he received his punishment on March 23.
Police say that Luera, of Lockhart, forced an inmate at the San Marcos facility to pose naked and perform oral sex on him through the food slot in a cell door on July 18, 2009.
San Marcos police Detective Kathy Misiaszek, who swore to an affidavit used for securing arrest warrants, was tipped off by the facility’s employee supervisor of the sexual abuse claim.
She wrote that the girl’s story remained consistent throughout interviews and Luera initially denied any physical contact with the victim, whose age was not disclosed.
Luera then agreed to take a polygraph test, which he failed. After the test, Luera admitted to a deputy that he did have sexual contact with the girl. When Misiaszek attempted to interview Luera again, he refused to speak to her, the affidavit says.
The juvenile facility’s administrator, Brett Littlejohn, said Tuesday that changes to facility security, such as additional cameras, has occurred as a result of the 2009 incident. There have been no other reported sexual abuse claims since this incident, he said.
A guard being alone with an inmate is against protocol but impossible to prevent in a facility that averages about 100 inmates at any given time, Littlejohn said.
“They should never really be alone but the potential is always there,” he said. “Unfortunately, people can find a way if they want to.”
